Friend Pat Cook of AKC pit bull obedience fame is looking for a new competition dog since Rollo passed on. She feels that some of these Katrina dogs might be potential competition dogs, but she is unable to figure out how to find them.

She is threatening to get an Aussie (she knows they are my least fav breed!) if she can't find a pit bull or Am Staff soon. With all the great dogs out there, it seems hard to believe that, if we get the word out, we can't find her a dog...

Pat has put Obedience Trial Championships on two rescue pit bulls now. She is a fantastic trainer, using primarily positive methods, and lives on a wonderful old farm where her dogs get to go on long walks with her. She has beaten many border collies and such while earning perfect 200 scores with her pit bulls - she is a real asset to our breed.

What she is looking for is a young (under 1.5 years of age) dog or bitch, though she far prefers dogs. She likes black and white, but will take anything except white or yellow (like Yeller). She'll look at a red nose, but not her first choice. Dog must be athletic and SOUND. Dog must be "up" and have high toy or food drive. Must not be overly dog aggressive.

Diane Jessup wrote:That dog is fully obedience trained and Tracking Titled. You should chit chat with her about him. I can't even imagine why he is still available...

Thats because people would rather go spend 100-200 bucks on some pit pup out of the newspaper that has had no shots, parents nor the pup has ever even been seen by a vet, unknown temperament, doesn't sleep through the night, has not been crate trained, chocolate/pisses in the house 24/7, hasn't been fixed, hasn't been microchipped, hasn't had ANY training what so ever, etc...etc...etc...

That must be way Tia mentioned she would contact her for my foster.She saw him praticing some eye contact and liked him but he is far too much of an spazzy idiot to do serious work. It would be a no anyway.Tia has an interesting little black and white male, quite some toy drive, hung on the leash for a mile on our walk.Had to pry it out of his mouth with some difficulty.No training on him.I think she planned to keep him and train him for drug work but I will ask this weekend.Nice looking dog, decent conformation, need to learn to watch the fingers! Fair grip, likes to swing.

She feels that some of these Katrina dogs might be potential competition dogs, but she is unable to figure out how to find them.

Will keep an eye open at Tia's Katrina dogs.Black dogs okey?
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or anyone else!!! this little sweetie has been in my home for about two weeks, is about 5-6 months old, and I can already walk her around the block (no distractions) in a heel! she is better than my other two! she has GREAT eye contact, sits when in doubt, but is still a PUPPY... her coloring is great, and her scarring (surgery) is healing well.

Here's my shameless pitch for my "mensa club member" Ocean - 4 months old, blue (seal?) and white, and da bomb for obedience work No crazy drive, but great concentration.

SCL - I think she meant yellow as in Taz yellow?, not as in tan and white so maybe Shasta is still a possibility??? I really want to meet that dog one of these days! Sam - you must bring her into town!

Aaron - looks like you've fit the bill potentially with that little doll. Black and white with brains.

Ocean (whom I desperately want to keep but can't right now due to hip surgery recovery ) She is four months old and a complete brainiac. Her problem solving skills are through the roof!!! I have never seen such mental and physical ability in any of the pups I've handled. She is not really high drive, but has that sound, stable temperament and solid concentration skills which are crucial for the stressful higher levels of obedience. Her structure is poetry in motion.

You know when a dog just has "it", well she has it. It's going to kill me to give this gem away. Somebody better do something with her or it's a total waste of talent!

Oh, and my little secret is that I like Aussies too. However just remind Pat that doesn't it rain a lot where she lives and that's a LOT of grooming, brushing, cleaning going on as opposed to a bullie!

Diane Jessup wrote:That dog is fully obedience trained and Tracking Titled. You should chit chat with her about him. I can't even imagine why he is still available...

Believe me, I keep going back to his page thinking how NICE it would be to have a dog trained by Pat, that is already titled, and I could just go out there and start doing things with (of course, I'll have to keep UP his training!) but with Tauri and Savvy, a third dog I think would be a bit much. I've been trying to resist wholeheartedly (and now with several friends having Staffy Bulls that I've fallen in love with that keep saying -- you can have ONE of each if you get a staffy -- I'm really, really, really doing my best to turn a blind eye.) <g>

But, he is a gorgeous boy and looks to be quite a working prospect! I am curious if she's looking for another working dog, why not him? (It would help me resist if he didn't really have a great working temperament and Pat had just done some magic with him)

Dawn, Lucky has some minor problems that make him not sound enough for intensive obedience work. Great for a pet, or a 4-H or casual trainer, but for the kind of training to get an OCH, he gets gimpy.

I'll let Pat speak for herself, but "smart" isn;t really that important... AKC obedience doesn't really call for "smart", it calls for a dog with high drive that can repeat, and repeat and repeat exercises while getting them perfect. Actual fact, many "smart" dogs don't dig that. What is needed is a dog with enough toy drive to KEEP working, even when bored. (Because their love of the toy overrides their boredom). I'll take a stupid, high drive dog over a smart, low drive dog anyday!

Rumpley, yes, she means Taz yellow. Unlike me, she can't get past the ugly in a dog! She can't even look at my Yeller dog.

She has to be really picky, as she needs a dog with great drive, but also a dog which is conformationally sound. She has had a real problem with dogs falling apart on her. She runs them A LOT and many dogs which would do well as a couch potato can't handle the amount of exercise she gives them. One way to tell if a dog has rear problems is to watch how they sit. Do their hind legs "spread" out or does the dog sit very tightly with legs tucked in close to body? Tight in is necessary.

Keep looking. Hopefully her dog is out there. A couple years ago her rescue pit Rollo was honored as the top obedience dog in the whole Pacific NW region - quite an eye opener for all those snooty border collie and golden and sheltie people, eh?

I'll take a super smart low drive dog over a stupid high drive dog anyday!! But I probably wouldn't win with one.

I can not live with those high drivers...otherwise I'd get an Aussie or Border Collie Heh wait, I do have that already- a half Pit/half Australian Cattle Dog..now that is one heck of a working dog (but it took me two years of ownership to actually "like" my boy!!) But he is da bomb to train.

I admit it too..I can't get past the ugly either. I'm a sucker for the piebalds through and through. However, I loved Taz and he was an "ugly yella dog..." so who knows.

Hopefully she doesn't sell out to the great "usual" obedience breeds. There is NOTHING better than kicking butt in the ring with a breed that makes the obedience clubs whisper amongst themselves!!

Is she in Oregon??? I'm sure there are a few dogs around here, or better yet ONTARIO, that would fit the bill. Wouldn't that be a story???

Yep, I prefer SMART dogs to Stupid dogs, and that's one of my biggest pet peeves these days -- the dumming down of our breed. Pit Bulls used to be some really SHARP dogs. Cunningly smart. Lately, that's getting harder and harder to find.

But, ideally, my next dog is a high drive (not over the top, however), smart, confident, sociable dog. But that is years down the road. I'm trying to keep to a two dog limit (and Tauri is like two dogs in one, so it's really three dogs that I have right now) LOL